


On The Outside

by Aoiifa



Category: DRAMAtical Murder
Genre: Multi, Series Spoilers, Unofficial Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2014-12-11
Packaged: 2018-02-25 17:15:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2629856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoiifa/pseuds/Aoiifa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Can Sei adjust to life outside of Platinum Jail? Or will the city prove too much for him to handle? Taking place a few months after the fall of Toue's empire, Sei now lives with Aoba in Tae's house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Morning in the Seragaki Home

**Author's Note:**

> Please be aware that at this point in time (Chapters 1-2) are rated G, however this will not stay that way. I'll be adjusting the rating as I update. So say in a week the rating has jumped up to T, that means that the most recent chapter will contain material that may not be suitable for all readers. This also applies to tags. At the moment the only tag right now is that for graphic violence, which I think just goes hand-in-hand with the gang society in DMMD.  
> In the future, or whenever I'm finished, I'll make sure to write up a list of content warnings for each chapter, as well as update the final rating.  
> As for updates; I want to try and pace myself at one or two chapters a week so that I can give myself enough time to edit and write. The only time that this might not apply is during the last weekend of November, as I'll be traveling and finishing up school for the semester! I'll try to post something exciting during that time so that the story doesn't leave off at a dry point during my absence!

“I don’t see why you have free reign over the city and why I have to hide in the house all day in fear,” Sei protested one morning while his twin was getting ready to head off to work at Heibon.  
Aoba brushed him off, replying “Who said anything about fear? It’s just for your own good!” With a clipped laugh and a slam of the door, the conversation came to a close.  
“It’s no different from Platinum Jail,” Sei muttered to no one in particular. He stared absently at the shoes still lined up along the wall; a pair of loafers –Tae’s- and a pair of his own nearly untouched white boots. With a sigh, Sei broke his focus off the shoes and turned to a door in the back of the foyer.  
Might as well make myself useful, he thought ruefully while drawing a broom from the closet.

Some time later, Sei heard the tell-tale sound of Tae’s slippers scraping along the hardwood floor outside the kitchen. He finished rinsing a dish from Aoba’s breakfast as the aged woman shuffled in to the room.  
“Good morning, Sei,” Tae greeted. Her voice didn’t properly fit the fleeting look of shock in her face. Sei hated to think how much it pained her each day to see someone she thought died years ago now living in her own home. Maybe in time she’d grow used to Sei’s presence in the house; for now it only fed the thought that he wasn’t fitting in.  
“I’m almost done with the chores for the day, Tae-san.”  
Tae edged around Sei, bustling to get a kettle ready for tea.  
“I was thinking,” Sei said nervously, “do you think I could possibly get an All-Mate?”  
Tae’s eyebrows furrowed as she set the kettle on the stove. The clicks of the igniter where the only sound that filled the still air in the cramped kitchen-dining area.  
“Tae-san?” Sei prompted.  
“I heard you, boy,” Tae muttered. “Aoba found and fashioned his own All-Mate, so I don’t see why you’re asking me about it.”  
The clicks continued as Sei’s face drooped. After a couple dozen more snaps a flame burst to life on the rang-top. Tae let out a triumphant huff.  
“I don’t really have income, and Aoba behaves as if I’ll be killed the second I leave this house alone. I need a travel companion.”  
The aura of irritation wrapping around Tae’s hunched body was tangible. A misty cloud of negative feelings washed over the breakfast table.  
“Aoba is dumb, but I doubt that he honestly thinks that,” Tae grumbled.  
Sei fetched the woman rice from the steamer and sat down opposite his grandmother. The old woman nodded her head in acknowledgement and graciously accepted the bowl set before her.  
“What if I helped you out with your work? If you’re willing to compensate me for my time.” Sei was grasping at straws.  
Tae’s face was impassive, but a slight wrinkle in her brow said that her mind was at work. The boy hadn’t thought things through enough. With Touei and his cronies missing there was no saying if Sei was safe or not. Sure, it had been a few months since Morphine had last struck the city, spiriting away the gutter-rat gang members that littered the streets, but it was still too soon to predict the future of the “mythological” gang. Who knew if Touei would attempt to kidnap him? Or worse, what if his two hedonistic main hench-men acted on their own interests and whisked Sei away from Touei’s grasp? It was obvious that none of this had crossed Sei’s mind.  
“I guess you can work from the home.” Tae grumbled, “I can’t risk having house-callers question about a new assistant poking around. Some of them are really stuck in their ways. If some fresh, new face appeared at their doorstep they are bound to react badly.”  
Sei wasn’t satisfied with this answer, but he knew better than to push Tae too much. He’d have to take this chance and hope for the best.


	2. The Plan

The added responsibility of helping Tae out with her work was less thrilling than Sei thought it would be. Not that he had too high of hopes to begin with. For the most part his new job entailed that he keep a tight record of all of Tae’s herbs, chemicals, and equipment. He began to handle calls and maintained a low profile network of patients and suppliers. Tae never outright thanked him for the improvements he’d brought to the practice, but he could tell that she liked not having to rely solely on memory to keep everything in line.  
“Tae-san,” Sei called out from behind a floating screen. The flickering square of light contained the current stock levels of a few of Tae’s most vital ingredients for her drugs. “We’re running low on three very important components of your pain-relieving mixture, as well as a chemical essential for Yono-san’s burn relief treatment.”  
Tae looked at the screen, her face twisting in thought.  
“You also have a few house calls today that are fairly urgent.”  
“Oh what a bother,” Tae sighed, “Yono-san won’t be pleased to have to wait a day or two for that salve.”  
“What if I picked up the supplies for you?” Sei offered, his voice barely breaking a whisper.  
“ Not a chance. You’re staying here. I’ll handle that when I have a moment. “ Tae added, “Everyone’s just going to have to wait.”  
Sei nodded stiffly.  
“You’re right, I apologize.” He said equally as rigid, “your next house call is in 10 minutes. According to this traffic update, it’ll take you at least 20 by foot to get there.”  
Tae picked up her doctor’s bag and headed off to the foyer.  
“Darn kid wasting my time with micromanaging bunk,” she muttered as she left the house.  
Sei closed down all the screens floating about him and stood up from the table. The plan he’d been working at for weeks was finally coming to fruition. He’d been monitoring the stock and setting up the schedule so that eventually Tae would be forced to allow Sei out on an errand. He had hoped that she would have consented, but the thought of going through the trouble of setting up the plan all over again was enough for him to risk the lashings he’d get later. And if he could get his hands on the supplies she needed, Tae would probably be too grateful and impressed to be harsh on him for disobeying.  
He didn’t wait a second longer. Sei grabbed a jacket and a ski cap from his side of Aoba’s closet and dashed to the front door. With clumsy, excited fingers he undid the laces on his boots. After floundering a few minutes in the process, Sei stood and faced the door. His hand trembled as he held it just centimeters above the knob.  
What if Aoba was right? Sei thought. Is it really that dangerous out there?  
In a moment of pure recklessness, Sei decided that he’d rather be dead than continue to play the part of a caged songbird. No, today he wasn’t going to forego from the chance to leave the house.


	3. Sei's Mistake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warnings: violence and strong language.

The city was a dirty, crowded place. Fragments of broken and discarded waste spattered the pavement. There were abandon cars that dotted the streets every block or so -their owners having long since been unable to afford gas and maintenance. A stench like a combination of fried foods, mold, and tobacco smoke clung to every greasy surface. The closer Sei got to the center of the city, the denser the packs of people milling about became. Clouds of perfume followed women as they strolled in herds down the congested walkways. Street vendors shouted out their wares. Everything added all up overwhelming Sei’s senses making it difficult for him to focus on the map on his Coil. So much information assaulted him from every angle. His knees felt weak; he began to sorely regret his decision to leave the house.  
This place is so awful. Sei thought as he stumbled off to the side of the road. How can anyone live in this mess?  
Sei knew that the only other environment that he had to compare this one to was an unfair standard to be held against. Platinum Jail had been so clean, so sterile in every aspect. Everything, even the scent of the air, had been perfectly crafted to ease and relax the mind. The gentle background music of the city was uniform and consistent. And even though nightclubs and bars were quite popular, the sounds of the complex never clashed or competed as much as they did here.  
I can’t breathe, Sei thought in a panic. Like a lab rat desperately trying to escape a maze, Sei found him self hopelessly lost down a side alley. Despite the silence of the secluded row, he wasn’t relieved of his anxieties just yet. A singe of pain struck him in the temple. His heart skipped a few beats before he fell to his knees on the cold pavement.  
“What have we here?” A voice growled from the sludgy shadows of a doorway.  
Sei tried looking up but his head felt too heavy. He settled on rotating his head so that a portion of his face was in the general direction of the voice.  
“Who do you think you are, showing up on this side of town?” The voice barked.  
Sei couldn’t respond, he just shook his head slowly and continued to gasp for breath.  
“ Looks like the kid doesn’t know where he’s at!” The man’s voice spat out the last word with a hiss of confidence. His voice clearly saying he wasn’t just another thug roaming the streets, no, he owned this place. A round of laughter filled the air. The sound of a dozen figures rising from the crates and stoops of the alleyway thundered in Sei's ears. He was surrounded.  
“Quick, see if he’s tagged!”  
On queue, the figures descended upon Sei. They seized up fistfuls of his jacket and hair, holding him by his wrists and pressing down on his thighs.  
“Please,” Sei stuttered, “Please lea-“.  
“Don’t tell me what to do!” The voice roared as someone struck the side of Sei’s head. The world danced before his eyes.  
“Aye, Mizuki, this one’s fresh!”  
There was a pause that charged the air with an electric malice. Giddiness gripped everyone but Sei. A strong hand wrenched his head upward and in a direction that he vaguely guessed was facing someone important. Through eyes blurred over by the pain his head, Sei looked in to the eyes of the man calling all the shots. The figure kneeling in front of him had wild, short mahogany hair that fell in spikes below his ears. Under his chin, covering most of his neck was a portion of skin completely tattooed in black. Within the blackness was the image of a pink heart with wings orbited by a halo. Sei’s heart began to beat wildly like it was trying to run away. He knew that tattoo –that symbol.  
Is he a part of Morphine? Sei thought as he began to sob.  
Mizuki’s lime green eyes were wide with chaotic glee. He was drinking in Sei’s pathos and loving every second of it. The air was now filled with the feeling of pure ecstasy. Everyone around Sei was vibrating in eager anticipation of something purely awful and deliciously violent. From a short distance away came the buzz of a tattoo gun.  
“You wanna know what we do to untagged bitches on our grounds?” Mizuki chuckled as the sound of the gun drew closer.  
“Ao-ba,” Sei whimpered, “I’m so-r-ry…”  
Like a lightning bolt that had discharged all of its energy, the alleyway felt suddenly devoid of the jubilation that drenched it moments before.  
“What did you say?” Mizuki said, his voice slightly shaking.  
“Aoba. I want Aoba” Sei blubbered in his barely conscious state.  
“Shit,” Mizuki exclaimed. “Call it off boys!”  
When the group around him didn’t react to his command, Mizuki whirled around and shouted, “I said call it off!”  
Sei didn’t know what magic his twin’s name held over this group of terrifying men, but it had done the trick. Now that the threat of violence was gone, Sei’s body collapsed in to unconsciousness.


	4. An Arrangement

“Aoba!” Mizuki shouted as he burst through the door of Heibon.  
Aoba lifted his gaze up from the wireless telephone dock, a puzzled expression on his face.  
“Mizuki what are you doing here?”  
Aoba hung up on the customer without any warning. It wasn’t such a big deal since it had been yet another crank call. He made a mental note of asking Haga-san to consider removing the word “Junk” from the name of the store.  
Mizuki was panting in the doorway as he motioned for his crew to also enter. At least a dozen ragged, thuggish looking young men poured through the shop entrance. They walked in a mostly condensed form, with an unresponsive figure in the center of the group. Aoba stood up on his toes and tilted his head to look around the cloud of people in his way but couldn’t quite make out whom they were dragging over to his desk.  
“This man said he knew you before he passed out in my alley!” Mizuki whimpered.  
Aoba looked dumbfounded at the scene before him. Mizuki had a feeling that Aoba’s general air-headedness was going to work in his favor this time. There was a good chance it would never occur to Aoba to put two and two together; that the unconscious man they had dragged with them to the shop was a victim of Dry Juice’s heightened territorial violence. And even if in the off chance that Aoba did draw that conclusion, it worked in Mizuki’s favor that he had gone through the trouble of bringing the man directly to Aoba, rather than leave him defenseless to the other gangs that ran the streets.  
“Sei?” Aoba said, his words riding the edge of a sharp sigh.  
Mizuki’s tried to hide that an icy horror was now gripping his stomach. It hit him like a punch that he’d almost tagged Aoba’s twin brother with Dry Juice’s trespasser markings. Cruel irony would have it that a relative of Aoba -whom Dry Juice agreed to shield from other gangs- would be the victim of rash, knee-jerk decisions. Mizuki didn’t even want to consider what awful things Aoba would do had they followed through with the assault. He touched the gruesome tattoo on his neck and shuttered.  
“This… This is… Your brother…?”  
“Yeah,” Aoba chuckled, his reaction poorly suited the intense drama unfolding. “I told you about him! You know, he’s my long lost twin! I busted him out of Platinum Jail.”  
Mizuki put a hand over his eyes and gestured for his crew to leave. They began to shuffle out of the shed-like business and spilled out on to the street.  
“I didn’t think Tae was allowing him out of the house yet but I guess that’s not the case, eh?” Aoba stood up from his chair and prodded at his twin brother’s face. “Yeah, you really did a number here didn’t you?”  
Mizuki began to splutter in defense, but Aoba waved his hand at the gang-leader dismissively.  
“Sei is really weak and sickly. I’m glad he fainted in your neck of the woods. Although, I suppose he would have been okay in Koujaku’s grounds too.”  
Mizuki’s face turned slightly red at the thought of the leader of Beni-Shigure. Despite their cordial airs in the presence of Aoba, the two men fabricated the pretense that they didn’t quite despise each other’s existence for his sake. Not that this was a personal thing -no, not by a long shot- it was just the way of the business. You chose your loyalties with your gang and anyone that wasn’t in, was on the outside.  
If there was any personal irritation that Mizuki towards Koujaku it was that he regularly set up hair appointments with customers in Dry Juice territory. Like the sexist pig he was, he thought that he could use women as a shield from the fights that surely would brake out had he been alone. As long as he kept pulling cheap moves like that, Koujaku was able to keep a prying eye on Mizuki’s territory. Even then, Koujaku’s meddling wasn’t so much of a personal affront but just another minor irritation on top of everything else Dry Juice was facing.  
“I’ll take over from here.” Aoba said softly, “don’t worry about the rest.”  
Out of formality, Mizuki stuck around while Aoba proceeded to blather on about his mundane junk shop work. Somewhere around an anecedote about bad customers and several tales of disturbing phone calls, Mizuki’s eyes began to wander in boredom, resting on Sei’s sleeping face. He looked so fragile and serene; two things that were in short supply in the city. It was obvious that the young man had never worked a day in his life, let alone been involved with the horrors of street life or the crippling poverty that weighed on a majority of Midorijima’s residents.  
Sei’s eyes began to flutter open. Aoba let out a short hiccup of a laugh and smiled down at his twin. “How’d you sleep?”  
Sei’s expression looked like someone who was just pulling out from heavy anesthetic. His eyes were watery and glazed over. A small swatch of blush began to burn color in to the apex of his soft cheeks. Sei’s movements were slow and puppet-like as he fought to sit upright.  
“Don’t hurt yourself!” Aoba cooed.  
Sei’s eyes snapped wide open in fright as they looked past Aoba and landed on Mizuki. It wasn’t that he suddenly remembered the near-violence that Mizuki had acted on him –no- it was the grotesque tattoo that painted the man’s throat. Just the sight of it gripped him with another wave of dizziness.  
Mizuki coughed and said sheepishly, “I hope you’re okay now.”  
Following his twin’s relaxed, indifferent attitude towards the man standing beside him, Sei guessed that there was some reason that Aoba wasn’t scared of the Morphine tag. Sei’s shoulders slowly lowered as his breathing returned to a calmer tempo. Aoba, in a miraculous fit of awareness, noticed the uncomfortable air in the room and let out an awkward laugh. He slapped Mizuki on the back.  
“I have an idea! Why don’t you let Mizuki here be your bodyguard for a day? He could take you out on an errand or make sure you’re safe outside the house.”  
Mizuki looked a little put out that Aoba had made an offer on his behalf without asking him first. With a shrug he gave in to Aoba’s demand.  
“What do you think, Sei, “ Mizuki asked. “Does that sound like an okay deal?”  
Sei just turned away. He couldn’t look at the marking on Mizuki’s neck anymore.  
“Well he didn’t say no!” Aoba added like an aside to Mizuki.  
Mizuki held a hand out to Sei. “I can’t do anything about how Tae’s going to react to this ordeal, but I promise you that you have the protection of Dry Juice.”  
Sei still didn’t turn around, but he did nod in response.  
“Good! Now that that’s settled.” Aoba turned towards Haga-san. The elderly man had been trying to discreetly eavesdrop from the back corner of the shop. The man jolted in surprise, as if he’d just been found out. No one had been fooled by his lame attempt to blend in with the shelves of refuse.  
“If you don’t mind, Haga-san, I’m going to make sure Sei gets home safely.”


	5. Coil Connect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: None
> 
> Just a short update. Even though I have a really busy schedule coming up I'm trying to work things out so that updates will continue to happen at least twice a week. 
> 
> Also! Keep an eye out for a one-shot I'm working on in celebration for the end of the semester! It'll be 100% toe-curling, lovely fluffiness!  
> ;D

At Tae’s sidewalk, Aoba heaved off the portion of Sei’s bodyweight he’d been carrying to dash up the small set of stairs leading to the house. While he dealt with the furious old woman, Mizuki sheepishly coughed. Sei took this as his queue to let go and stand on his own. Mizuki coughed again –this time much louder.  
“I thought you might need my Coil address,” Mizuki mumbled.   
Sei didn’t verbally respond, but humored Mizuki by activating his Coil connection. The two men’s devices played a brief tone to indicate that information had been exchanged. Sei dropped his wrist limply at his side and walked away.

 

Two weeks passed since Sei’s attempt at freedom. Tae hadn’t been too outwardly harsh towards him about the ordeal, though. Perhaps she considered that his heart was too weak to handle theatrics, or maybe the amount of energy required to fully convey her displeasure wasn’t worth it. Either way, it didn’t stop her taking up an uncharacteristic, passive-aggressive attitude.   
Sei continued to do his work for Tae’s practice without complaint and only really talked when addressed at the dinner table. Thankfully, his loquacious twin was able to pick up the slack where he was silent. The meals that they shared were only pleasant from an outsider’s view of the surface-level. Beyond the forced smiles and laughs, Sei was miserable again. He knew that he shouldn’t be ungrateful, but when he imagined a life outside of Platinum Jail he never considered that there would be strings attached. Stay inside, stay quiet, don’t exert yourself; all these things began to add up and wove together. It was getting to the point that he feared that no matter where he went, someone –or something- would try to tie him down.   
"It’s for your own good", Sei thought while agreeing with Aoba on a conversation that he honestly wasn’t following at all. "They just want you safe and healthy".  
He always would stop himself whenever he began to question whether he was happier here than Platinum Jail. Despite the horrific things he had to do for Toue, and the gruesome assaults he’d endured from Virus and Trip; Platinum Jail hadn’t been so bad. It had been pristinely clean; he had proper medical treatment, and Toue showered him with love and affection whenever he wasn’t at work. Not to mention that between the periods that Sei was expected to do as Toue had commanded, he had a relatively extreme level of freedom.   
He stopped himself from pondering further -it wasn’t worth the effort to lament over his current situation.


	6. A Call from the Veranda

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: None! 
> 
> I'm finally on break and I'm going to try to update more frequently! Thank you for everyone who's stuck by me so far! You make this all worth it ;)

After Aoba had fallen asleep that night, Sei carefully pried his brother’s arms off of him and picked his way out of the bed. He watched his brother as he made his way to the veranda, making sure his twin didn’t wake. Gently, as quietly as humanly possible, Sei slid the door open and stepped out in to the cold night. He watched as his brother shivered from the sudden burst of frigid air and pushed the door back shut.   
Sei activated his Coil and pulled up the address book. Only two names appeared on the display.   
After Aoba and Koujaku had broke Sei out of Platinum jail, Noiz suggested that Sei destroy his old Coil and get a new one. The techie had supplied Sei with a brand new Coil that he fashioned with tailor-made security settings. Sei accepted the new Coil, though he doubted that he'd use it much. He never really had a need for his old one given that he'd lived under constant surveillance. The Coil he had before was given to him on the slim chance that he'd one day gain enough autonomy to actually require such a device.  
Continuing to stare at the two names, he finally activated a call to Mizuki. Call it a whim -or a moment of weakness- but he desperately wanted to get out of the house tomorrow. He figured that if he got a chance to walk around and get some fresh air, he might snap out of his ungrateful, bratty funk.   
“Oi, Sei,” Mizuki’s voice vibrated through the Coil’s speaker.   
Sei cleared his throat and muttered uneasily, “I’m ready to take you up on your offer.”  
There was a slight pause then Mizuki responded, “I have to get Black Needle prepped for opening.”  
“That’s not an issue.”  
“Must be boring all locked up-“He paused when he realized the insensitive turn that his words had taken. Mizuki awkwardly gagged, swallowing the rest of the sentence back in regret.  
“It's okay.” Sei sighed, “really.”  
The two didn't mince time or attempt to keep up a pretense of a normal conversation. Instead, they quickly hung up afterward to avoid stumbling in to any more uncomfortable moments. If this was any sign of how the next day was going to go, Sei feared how quickly he’d tire of such dim company.  
“It’s a change of scenery,” he muttered to the night sky as he headed back to bed.


	7. Walking Target

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: Harsh language.

The next morning Mizuki showed up to Tae’s doorstep. He looked fairly out of place in such a domestic backdrop, with his studded jacket and leather pants. Aside from his edgy attire, his composure made him stand out more. The young man kept picking at his scarf as if by some nervous habit and looking over his shoulders.  
Sei tapped his boots on the doorjamb and stood up, facing his new escort. Without a single word, the two headed off for Black Needle. Sei was avoiding looking in Mizuki’s eyes as they walked down the craggy road.  
At this time of the day the streets belonged to the honest; riff-raff and troublemakers were still sleeping off the mischief they’d caused the previous night, while the working class –with genuine jobs- began to spill from their warm homes. Even at this time, the heart of the city was already bustling with life. Little clouds of steam danced between the feet of people milling about. Kitchens clamored to attend to the breakfast rush occurring around them. Businesses flipped on their ‘Open’ signs and set up sandwich boards with features scrawled in chalk across them. The entire distric was vibrating with activity.  
Sei stumbled as his anxiety caused an uncomfortable tingling sensation in his hands and toes. There were too many people on the sidewalk, too much noise, too many blind spots that left him vulnerable. His mind was racing to think of escape routes but kept slamming on the conclusion that any attempts were futile. A tight pain settled in to his chest.  
Mizuki’s eyes darted around, quickly reading the signs around him. He was trying to think of something –anything- to talk to Sei about. This whole deal was so awkward and if he didn’t do something quickly it would continue to cycle further and further along in to absurdity.  
“So have you ever had curry at Bell's?” He asked, looking over his shoulder.  
Sei was struggling to stand on two feet and was clutching at the fabric of his jacket just above his chest. Thick puffs of steam came from his mouth in a pattern that showed he was hyperventilating.  
“Ah shit.”  
Mizuki glanced around him. He couldn’t risk looking like gave a rat's-ass about helping out a weakling on the street. There was good chance that half a dozen gangs or wandering alley dwellers where watching like hawks –dissecting the scene for leverage over the debased gang leader.  
Mizuki became aware of an itch at his throat.  
Quickly, Mizuki strode over to Sei and grabbed his wrist. In another time, or possibly another place, he might have be allowed to be gentler with his approach. This wasn’t the place for tenderness or kind words. A city with so many knives hiding in wait wouldn’t allow for any physical or verbal form of comfort.  
The two reached Black Needle without further incident, however Sei was still in rough shape. His eyes were distant like he’d suddenly become trapped within his own mind. Mizuki scrambled to unlock the door and pushed Sei inside the shop with a theatrical shove.  
“Here we are,” Mizuki grumbled, trying to act as if he hadn’t noticed Sei’s condition.  
Sei shakily found his way to a bar stool and sat down, resting his elbows on the countertop. His back was heaving as he tried to force oxygen back through his system.  
“You look like you might need some water."  
Mizuki sidled behind the bar and fetched a glass from the cupboard above the sink. From the corner of his eye he saw color come back in to Sei's complexion. He placed a tumbler of water in front of his guest without looking at him. He couldn't risk being seen giving any extra care or thought toward Sei.  
“Welcome to Black Needle.” Mizuki’s voice echoed around the empty bar/tattoo parlor. “I’ve got to get everything prepped for tonight’s shift, but feel free to make yourself at home.”  
Mizuki shook off his jacket and gloves, stashing them in a drawer under the bar counter. He was about to take the scarf off when Sei let out a sharp, barely audible gasp. He snapped his head in the direction of his guest only to see that Sei was staring with widened eyes at his neck. Though his expression wasn't that of disgust or horror, Mizuki couldn't stand the emotion that he was conveying; pity. Someone as breakable as Sei, pitying him! It was enough to cause his jaw to cramp from the strain of clenching his teeth in rage.  
“I don’t know what your problem is, but I'm not fond of this fucking mess on my neck either,” Mizuki snapped.  
“Morphine,” Sei responded, his voice just barely above a whisper.  
Mizuki glared at Sei, his fists balling up at his sides. “What would you know about that?”  
Sei saw how tense Mizuki had become; a tendon on his dark neck was popping out and his lips were drawn down in a tight frown. He decided it was best not to say anything further.  
So much for this not getting awkward, Mizuki thought as he snagged a towel from another drawer. I guess I shouldn’t be so harsh on him. Just try to make it through the day without murdering the one person you promised Aoba you wouldn’t allow harm to come to.  
Mizuki had the sudden and rare impulse to apologize when he realized that Sei had left his seat. A quick glance to the side revealed that the boyish person had made his way to the tattoo parlor portion of the store. His pale hand drew up slowly as he started to reach towards a drawing on the wall.  
“Are these all yours?”  
Mizuki’s frown broke. There it was; they had something positive to talk about.  
“Yeah, I’m the only artist that works here. Actually, I’m the only tattoo artist in this whole city square. There aren’t any other artists in a few miles round this shop, but that’s just ‘cos I’ve been working overtime with the boys to extend the territory.”  
From the blank look in Sei’s eyes Mizuki could tell that he’d lost him somewhere along the line.  
“Dry Juice doesn’t fuck around; someday we’re going to be running this town.”  
Sei rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what he’d gotten himself in to. Mizuki acted so differently around Aoba; yet to Sei he seemed so harsh and aggressive. He began to think that his twin was an idiot and that he was now in the custody of a short-tempered, violent person.


	8. Meeting Half-way

Black Needle’s doors were unlocked.   
There was still a few more hours left in the day before the business shift started. However, a gang never took breaks from existing; soon rough looking men began to filter in from the streets. Sei began to feel slightly nervous around the unfamiliar faces. It was a huge relief when Aoba showed up at dusk.  
“How’s it going, Sei?” Aoba said with a little flutter of his hand in greeting.   
Sei looked up from the counter, dread leaking from every pore on his face. There was a darkness weighing down his slender shoulders.   
“Oh wow, that bad?”  
Sei looked around to see if anyone of Dry Juice, or Mizuki, was within earshot and leaned in to talk with his brother.  
“How did you become friends with this guy anyway?”  
Aoba let out a chuckle and looked away. “That’s a story for another time. For real though, what’s wrong? You look like shit.”  
Sei told his twin about the panic attack on the way to Black Needle and how he’d accidentally upset Mizuki over the matter of the Morphine tattoo.   
“I guess I should have said something to the two of you.” Aoba held his chin thoughtfully and continued, “I forgot that that tattoo could have been an issue; seeing how you were kind of living with Virus and Trip.”  
Thankfully, there were only a handful of people in the world that knew the true owners of the notorious, puppet-gang; so when someone from Dry Juice happened to pass by there wasn’t a disturbance in the atmosphere from mentioning the names of Toue’s two shady henchmen.   
“Right about the time you started sending out messages, Morphine got a hold of Mizuki and tattooed him with that experimental ink-stuff. I tried to help him with the power of Scrap but I didn’t really know what I was doing and caused him a lot of harm. As a result, lots of Mizuki’s men turned tail and abandoned the group.”  
Sei’s cheeks went red with anger. “That’s so wrong!” he shouted.   
A few gang members glanced over, but otherwise ignored the sudden outburst.  
“It’s hard, but that’s the way it is,” Aoba said. His voice had dropped but his tone tried to remain optimistic.  
Suddenly, Aoba’s eyes widened as he snapped his fingers, “I got it! In Platinum Jail did it ever feel like people where always monitoring you? Like you couldn’t act the way you wanted to because someone was always watching?”  
One of Sei’s eyebrows dropped quizzically, he didn’t follow Aoba’s line of reasoning.  
“That’s exactly what Mizuki is dealing with right now! After Morphine pretty much established that Dry Juice wasn’t a threat to anyone, a lot of the gangs left in town have been trying to do him in for good.”  
Sei looked over his shoulder at Mizuki, who was sterilizing tattoo equipment and barking commands at someone else who was helping clean up the place. It was a stretch, but from Aoba’s childish perspective such a view would make perfect sense. He never thought that there was any way that he could ever be put on common ground with a man from the dirty world outside Platinum Jail. But now, thanks to his twin, he was starting to see Mizuki in a different light. Sure, he had been super mean and rough with him this morning, but in such a vicious, quick-to-backstab-and-betray environment it takes a lot to remain so accommodating. Mizuki didn’t have any real obligation to help out a non-member like Aoba -and by extension Sei- so his loyalty to friends over gang members spoke volumes.   
“Did you want to come back to Heibon with me for the rest of my shift? Haga-san told me to take an order to the post office like…”   
Ren popped out of Aoba’s purse, supplying, “… 1 hour and 38 minutes...”  
“… A little bit ago and I should probably be heading back.”  
Sei gave Aoba a smile, saying, “no, I think I’ll stay here a bit longer.”


End file.
